Universal school meal policies allow all students to eat school meals at no cost, regardless of income, and have the potential to improve child nutrition and reduce stigma. However, there is limited evidence of the relationship between such policies and stigma. A new study published in the Journal of School Health examined self-reported embarrassment, a component of stigma, related to eating school lunch among 1,066 middle and high school students across eight U.S. states—four with statewide universal meal policies and four without—during the 2022–2023 school year.
Overall, about one in nine students (11.5%) reported feeling embarrassed to eat school lunch. Embarrassment was associated with reduced meal participation: students who reported feeling embarrassed reported eating school lunch 11% less frequently than their peers, with the largest reductions seen among students eligible for free or reduced-price meals (20%). Among students from households with lower-income, those in states with universal meals were less likely to report embarrassment than their peers in non-universal meal states. In contrast, students from households with higher-income in universal meal states were more likely to report embarrassment. However, embarrassment was not significantly associated with reduced participation among higher-income students. Across all income groups, these differences cancelled one another out and no association was seen.
Authors acknowledge that embarrassment is one part of stigma and more work is needed to more fully understand the relationship between school meal policies and sigma. Further,universal meal access alone may not fully address stigma and recommend pairing such policies with strategies that address perceptions and attitudes toward school lunch, such as improvements to meal quality and appeal, involving students in menu development, and promoting positive messaging about the inclusiveness and nutritional benefits of school meals for all students.
Study authors included Dania Orta-Aleman, Monica D. Zuercher, Caitlin D. French, Lorrene Ritchie, and Wendi Gosliner from the Nutrition Policy Institute, Leah E. Chapman from Merrimack College, Marlene B. Schwartz from the Rudd Center for Policy and Health at the University of Connecticut, Anisha I. Patel from the Department of Pediatrics at Stanford University, and Juliana Cohen from Merrimack College and Harvard University. This study was funded by the California General Fund (SB170).